The Chicago Guide to Your Academic Career

Preface
Acknowledgments

Part One: Becoming a Scholar
1. Deciding on an Academic Career
-The advantages and disadvantages of academic life
-Academic salaries
-Academic freedom
-The personality traits of successful graduate students

2. Entering Graduate School
-Differences between undergraduate and graduate training
-Preconditions for a graduate education
-Questions to ask yourself
-Financial considerations
-Picking the right school
-Specialization
-Knowing whether you’ve made the right career choice
-The Inside Track: Financing Graduate Education
Thomas Thuerer

3. The Mentor
-The role of the mentor
-Finding a mentor
-The mentoring commitment

4. Writing a Dissertation
-Prerequisites
-The dissertation requirement
-Choosing a topic
-How long it takes to write a thesis
-Becoming discouraged and persevering

5. Landing an Academic Job
-Preparing to enter the academic job market
-Presenting a paper at a conference
-The job search
-How to read job advertisements
-Assembling the dossier
-Application letters
-Letters of reference
-The c.v.
-Interviews at national meetings
-What should be avoided
-Applying as a couple
-The short list
-The campus visit
-The job talk
-Rejections
-How long to keep trying
-Receiving and evaluating offers
-Negotiating the terms of the appointment
-The "two-body" problem
-Multiple offers
-The Inside Track: Leaving Academia for the Corporate World
Ami Kronfeld

Part Two: The Academic Profession

6. The Life of the Assistant Professor
-Beginning the first job
-Juggling responsibilities
-Sorting out priorities
-Committees and commitments
-Keeping tenure in view
-Getting along with colleagues
-The institutional bureaucracy
-Departmental politics-BGetting involved in institutional change
-Long-term goals
-Family considerations
-Job satisfaction

7. Teaching and Research
-What teaching is all about
-Expectations at research universities
-Expectations at teaching institutions
-Preparing a syllabus
-Learning how to teach
-Exams and writing assignments
-The first day of class
-Evaluating students’ work
-Evaluating your own teaching
-Teaching at the graduate level
-Plagiarism and other ethical issues
-Making life easier on yourself
-"Publish or perish"
-Beginning to publish
-Finding the right journal
-Submitting the article
-The editor’s decision
-Referee reports
-Coauthoring
-Publishing a book
-Getting grants
-Surviving writer’s block
The Inside Track: Publishing the First Book
Colin Day

8. Tenure
-Why tenure exists
-The tenure-review process
-Evaluation criteria
-Attacks on tenure
-Being denied tenure
-Opportunities outside academia

9. Competition in the University System and Outside Offers
-The forces of competition
-Mobility and loyalty
-Junior and senior hires
-Outside offers as a way to move up
The Inside Track: Consulting and Intellectual Property
Pierre Laszlo

10. Family, Gender, and the Personal Side of Academic Life
-Effects on family
-Shared appointments
-Discrimination in academia
-Sexual harassment and consensual relationships

11. Conclusion

Appendix 1 The Administrative Structure of a University
Appendix 2 Policies on Parental Leave and Shared Positions
Appendix 3 Tables

Notes
Bibliography
Index